Method of making a composite article



March 12, 1935. e. B. MOULE 1,994,145

METHOD OF MAKING A COMPOSITHARTICLE Filed June 29, 1934 JJMNS W iffy? smras PATENT OFFICE men or MAKING a ARTICIE OSITE Glenn a. Morale, Akron, Ohio, assignor to The B.

F. Goodrich Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 29, 1934, Serial No. 733,033

This invention relates to methods of mechanism to be passed therethrough, an opencomposite articles of sheet material, and is esing 18 being provided for the gear shift lever, pecially useful in production of composite floor an opening 19 for the foot rest, and an opening mats for automobiles. 20 and 21 for the clutch and brake pedals.

It is the practice of the automobile industry In the manufacture of such a mat, I provide 5 at the present time to use floor mats having an a form 22 comprising a sheet metal top 23 correimpervious waterproof rubber face and a cushspending in contour to the desired mat and supioning back of soft felted material. ported by suitable frame work. Marginal stops The present trend of automobile design necessior guides 24, 24', and 25, 25' are fastened to the tates the use of non-planiform floors in which top 23. 10

the under side of the floor is recessed to clear the Before starting to form and assemble the parts transmission and the upper surface of the floor of the mat, the top 23 of the form is given a light, is correspondingly bulged. The problem of procoating of rubber cement along all its concave viding mats to conform to such floors, and at the bending lines such as along lines 12, 12, and 13,

same time to provide mats having a pleasing ap- 13' and around the base of the central bulged por- 15 pearance at low cost, is one which presents many tion where it intersects the inclined portion. difficulties. A sheet of felt material 11 is cut, by means of The principal objects of this invention are to dies or otherwise, to such a shape as to conform provide a method of making such mats which will to the form. It is then sprayed on its upper face 2o reduce the cost and'improve the appearance of with a coating of a dispersion of rubber, either the mats, and will eliminate the use of expensive natural or artificial, and permitted to dry someapparatus. what. The felt layer is then laid over the form. Other objects will appear from the following Its lateral margins are placed against the stop description and the accompanying drawing. strips 24, 24' and it is pressed about the form by Of the drawing: hand manipulation. The extensibility of the felt 25 Fig. 1 is a plan view of the rubber surface permits its being conformedsmoothlytothe cenlayer of a preferred form of mat before it has tral bulged portion of the form without cutting been formed to the contour of the floor. it. A light hand roller is used to smooth it in Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a form. with the place, especially along the lines 12, 12', and 13,

3o assembled mat thereon, part of the rubber sur- 13 and around the base of the central bulged face layer being broken away to show the conportion, where the light coating of cement on struction. the form holds it in place.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the finished mat The rubber face layer 10, which is of vulcanized in. its preferred form. sheet rubber, may be formed in continuous lengths as Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross section of the with a ribbed or other ornamental design. The

ed mat taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3. border 17 may be printed, sprayed, or otherwise Referring to the drawing and particularly to applied to the sheet material before it is vul- Fig. 3, wherein one type of mat is shown to illuscanizeri.v

trate the method, the mat comprises an imper- After vulcanization, the rubber material is cut to vious waterproof rubber face 10, having cemented to the form illustrated in Fig. 1 by means of suitor otherwise secured thereto abacking 11 of looseable dies. In order to conform the rubber layer 1y felted animal hair or other fibers. In order to the form without wrinkling of the material to conform to the floor of the car the mat is bent while providing suflicient material to cover the along lines 12--12' and 13-13 except through centrally bulged portion without stretching of as a central longitudinal portion 14 thereof which the rubber, a crescent shaped aperture 26 is cut I is elevated above the 1 portions of the from the sheet anda strip of material isremoved t andisbounded by sloping sides 15, 15. This to provide a central gap 27 extending from the central raised portion merges into the inclined nearest margin of the sheet to the center of the portion 16. The purpose of the elevated porcrescent shaped opening, the entire area removed 5 0 tion 15 is to clear the corresponding bulge in beingof forked shape. the floor which houses the torsion tube of the Before applying the rubber facing to the felt, a 1. an ion of the the underside of the facing is coated with an ad- An ornamental border 17 is formed on the rubhesive cement such as rubber cement or preferber surface of the t. Various openings are ably the cement described in U. S. Letters Patpimed thro ent No. 1,392,123 and is then allowed to dry. as

Strips 28 and 29. of adhesive rubberized tape, are applied over the felt material at such places as the edges of the rubber facing are to be joined.

The rubber facing is now applied over the felt and the tape. This is accomplished by first abutting one of the lateral margins of the rubber facing against one of theguides 24,- 24' and then laying the sheet over the bulged portion of the form and adjusting the opposite margin against its guide strip. The margins adjacent the removed area of the facing are then brought into abutting relation over the tapes 28 and 29 and the rubber layer is then rolled into contact with the felt by means ofa hand roller.

As the rubber layer has been previously vulcanired, no further vulcanization of the mat is necessary.

As the forming of the rubber layer changes the included angle of the lateral margins with respect to each other, in cutting the material for the rubber facing the margins of the gap 2'! are cut out of parallel by the amount of such change in angularity and the adjacent margins 30, 30' of the sheet are cut at right angles thereto, or out of alignment with each other by the amount of change of angularity and are aligned in the forming of the sheet to final shape. Similarly the marginal border along that side of the sheet is made to parallel the edges 30, 30'.

By molding the rubber layer as a flat sheet,

the use of expensive molds and the molds. As the mold surfaces are fiat any ribbing or engraving may be clearly and accurately produced on the mold surfaces and is reproduced in the finished sheet.

After the mat is complete it is stripped from the form. Only suflicient adhesive is applied to the form to hold the material in place temporarily.

The apertures such as 18, 19, and 20 may be punched from the assembled mat after it is taken from the form.

I claim: v

1. The method of making a non-planiform cushioned floor mat which comprises forming a layer of cushioning material about a former having the desired shape, applying inextensible adhesive tapes over restricted areas of the bushioning material, cutting a flat sheet of vulcanized rubber material so as to conform to the surface of the cushioning material without overlapping seams, and adhering the sheet to the cushioning material with its out margins abutting each other over the taped areas. I

3. The method of making a non-planiform layer of extensible cushioning material about a form having the desired shape, applying inextensible adhesive tapes over restricted areas of the cushioning material, cutting a flat sheet of vulcanized rubber material to provide a surface layer having a forked area removed therefrom extending inwardly from a margin of the sheet, and adhering said surface layer to the cushioning materialf with the margins of the sheet adjacent the removed area in abutting relation over the tapes. I

4. The method of making a contoured article of sheet rubber which comprises mounting a seaming strip of adhesive materialupon a contoured form, so shaping a sheet of rubber that it can be fitted on the contoured form with two of its edge faces substantially abutting each other at a position overlying the seaming strip, so mounting the rubber sheet upon the form, adhering it to the seaming strip, and then removing the assembly from the form.

5. The method of making a contoured mat which comprises fitting a layer of fibrous material to a contoured form, so shaping a sheet of rubber that it can be fitted on the layer of fibrous material with two of its edge faces substantially abutting each other, so mounting the rubber sheet upon the layer of fibrous material and adhering it thereto, and then removing the assembly from the form. I

GLENN B. MOULE.

cushioned floor mat which comprises forming a 

